Morro Makes Change Whenever One His Players Looks Stale

And even when he's winning the Altamonte Americans' manager will make a change if a player is not producing.

''You can't ride a dead horse,'' Morro said. ''It doesn't make sense to keep playing a boy who has gone stale.

''I feel all 14 of our boys are quality all-stars. That's why they were picked. We make the changes we feel we must.''

Among those Altamonte American all-stars, who have been in and out of the lineup, is Jared Soto. Soto was in the lineup Wednesday and it was his grand slam that was the margin of victory in a 6-3 elimination of Yulee in the Section 1 Major Tournament played in Winter Garden.

''Jared is a line-drive hitter,'' Morro said. ''He doesn't get many home runs because of that.''

''I don't like to swing for the fences,'' Soto said. ''When you do you just pop up.''

Soto's home run was only his third of the season, including regular season play and all-stars.

In Altamonte's victory over Jay, Morro didn't even have Soto in the lineup. In the opening game loss to Crystal River, Soto was lifted for a pinch hitter with the bases loaded.

''Often it's a spur of the moment thing,'' Morro said. ''We look at who is producing and who isn't.

''As far as Jared is concerned he came to us with a bad right leg,'' Morro said. ''He hasn't been able to go full speed and is still bothered by it.''

Soto had been hitting in the fifth spot, but in the victory over Yulee, Morro inserted Soto in the sixth spot.

Morro felt his hitters became a little more aggressive against what was a hard throwing Yulee pitcher.

''We don't have anyone in our league who can throw the ball 60 miles an hour,'' Morro said. ''This guy was throwing the ball at 70 miles an hour. It's great to see our guys putting the bat on the ball.''

While delighted that his offense was becoming aggressive, Morro still felt it was defense that kept him in the tournament.

''For us, success is attributed to our defense and good pitching,'' Morro said. ''They did it again tonight.''

The Altamonte infield trio of third baseman Chuck Lamb, shortstop Eddie Howard and second baseman T.J. Giuffrida have yet to make an error.

Altamonte made consecutive errors in the fourth inning against Yulee but each time the player who made the error recovered to make a great play. Right fielder Kevin Morro dropped a line drive, but helped cut down a runner trying to take advantage of the error. First baseman Jeff Jackson misjudged a infield pop up but quickly recovered to throw out another Yulee runner trying o advance.

Twice Altamonte pulled double plays to cut short rallies by Yulee. One of those came in the top of the sixth inning.

Maitland was knocked out of the Section 1 Senior Tournament by Pensacola Tri-County, 10-1, in Deltona. Maitland was dropped into the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tournament with a 4-3 extra-inning loss to Jacksonville Highlands.